Evening guys
Ugh, Flo. a glass of OJ please. I feel like crap. My throat and head hurt, my nose is stuffy. I think it's just allergies. I've been leaving the windows open during the day and night cause it's been really nice the past couple of days...
Trainwise, I've been doing a little bit of shopping. I've picked up 2 Atlas EV cabooses, 1 in CB&Q and one in NP. These will get patched at some point... Also picked up a few BN cars, some more LEDs, and some 750 ohm 1/4 resistors. The LEDS are going into those SD40-2s, and the bulbs will be used with the resistors as beacons in other locos. I still need to get decoders for them, but that may have to wait a while.
Carwise, my car is still ticking as the odometer is just a few miles away from 240,000. Still runs strong enough to go racing But the car is why the decoders will have to wait. A friend of my father has a good set of aluminium heads that would go well with my stroker motor I'm building for $500. I was thinking of getting arguably best ones available for the ford 302, with would run close to $1600 for the pair. I have one aluminium head now that I traded some exhaust parts for, but the other would cost $480. Of course the difference in power is a concern. I could make around 480hp with the $1600 ones, 460hp with the $500 ones, or 440 with the one I have and buying a new one for $480. I think 20 horsepower is worth $20 (I think Ken would attest that is pretty good) but I don't think 40 is worth $1100.
Tom, a freind of mine caught one of those C40-8Ms down here in Florida a few years ago. It was with a bunch of UP units (IIRC, SD90MACs)...
Jeff, Good to see you back.
I'll be in the back.
Vincent
Wants: 1. high-quality, sound equipped, SD40-2s, C636s, C30-7s, and F-units in BN. As for ones that don't cost an arm and a leg, that's out of the question....
2. An end to the limited-production and other crap that makes models harder to get and more expensive.
Late evening I know, but I went to bed not feeling well at about 5pm, now I am up for a little while then I will probably be up at teh usual time for the morning.
Jeffrey: responded to your PM.
Cape Jim: Responded to your likelwise!
Tomorrow is supposed to be 75 high, and today I had windows open. It is still a cool 72F right now! We need to air out the place, since we have no "fresh air exchanger" on either the heating system or the A/C, it has gotten quite musty in here as we usually have the place closed up. SO a good airing out is in order.
BUT: Tuesday, we are expceting sn*w!!!
I would not be unhappy if today's weather were to STAY, But no, it has the four letter word stuff coming!
Oh wel,
have a great night sleep!
See you in the morning!
-G .
Just my thoughts, ideas, opinions and experiences. Others may vary.
HO and N Scale.
After long and careful thought, they have convinced me. I have come to the conclusion that they are right. The aliens did it.
Calling it a night. See y'all tomorrow.
Dr. Frankendiesel aka Scott Running BearSpace Mouse for president!15 year veteran fire fighterCollector of Apple //e'sRunning Bear EnterprisesHistory Channel Club life member.beatus homo qui invenit sapientiam
Evenin' folks!
Janie, just a cup of decaf for me, please.
Got a lot of cleaning done down in the trainroom. Spent most of the afternoon and evening in that pursuit. I still have to clean the track and run a few trains before the guy comes to change over the DCC system for me. I figure if the trains are running well before he gets here and we have problems after the change over, we can rule out track problems....
Done got up to 83°F today here in the Finger Lakes. Sure felt good to be outside without a winter coat on for a change... As Galaxy already posted by Wednesday Morning there may be 1" to 3" of the dreaded white stuff on the ground again! Won't last long though....
I am very tired tonight, so I think I shall head out to bed... See you all in the morning. Prayers for all of you! (Whether you need them or not....)
73
Ray Seneca Lake, Ontario, and Western R.R. (S.L.O.&W.) in HO
We'll get there sooner or later!
Good evening everybody ...
JimCG ... Glad to see you back in the Diner.
Bob K ... You too. Good to see you!
PA Tom ... BC Rail was acaqured by Canadian National a few years ago. they might still own that locomotive.
Jeff .... Glad you are here. I really did enjoy talking with you on the phone. The food may not be the best, but at least you don't have to wash dishes!
I'm still strugling with my Sountraxx Tsumsami. I receiced an email from Sountraxx suggesting what to do, but the decoder is still messed up after following their advice. .... As it is now, the engine (Prto Heritage 2-10-2) goes forward if controller is in reverse. If I try to run the engine with controller in forward, it causes a short sicuit and the track vicuit breaker trips. Meanwhile, neither headlight will light up. ... This decoder has been back to the factory twice already, and I think it will make another trip there.
Non railrod stuff: My gardening wife wanted some mulch, and we went to the home imporvemnt store where it was on sale. Now there are 65 big bags loaded on my truck. It's very big load. Well, at least she has something to keep her busy for a while.
GARRY
HEARTLAND DIVISION, CB&Q RR
EVERYWHERE LOST; WE HUSTLE OUR CABOOSE FOR YOU
morning coffee...
Liripoop - The tail of a graduate's hood (an old feature of academic dress). The liripoop hung down the back when the hood was off, and it was wrapped like a bandage around the head when the hood was on. The liripoop is both intimidating to others and uncomfortable for the wearer.
Oggannition - Snarling or growling
Cumber-ground - Someone who takes up space
Good Morning!
Last night we had such a terrible r*in down here, I could not sleep well. Got up at 3 am and could not find any sleep thereafter. Now I am all sleepy...
The mail man rang early this morning and brought my order of switch stand. A huge package with little content for a lot of money! Reminds me of birthday gifts I gave Petra in our better time
No plans for the day, other than staying inside. More r*in and storm - just like one can expect in April.
Jeff - mashed potatoes with ground beef in it? Sounds a little bit like what we call Labskaus. It´s potatoes, red beets, all mashed up with ground beef, seasoned and served with fried eggs and herring. Supposedly a sailor´s breakfast. Looks like this:
Certainly not everybody´s taste!
CU later & have a good one!
James, Brisbane Australia
Modelling AT&SF in the 90s
It's NO COAT DAY! Yes, this morning I went to work without a coat, as it was 63 degrees. It won't last, but it's nice for one day, at least.
With ski season gone, I got back to work on the layout. I got most of the way throught he build-up of a Walthers tank car platform kit, and started to work on its "emplacement" behind the tannery. I did another pour of Envirotex, this time adding "water" to a small pond. I put down some Gypsolite for surface texture in three spots - under the water tank at the tannery, around a small rock wall up near the fascia, and the rest of the batch curving around some track in the back.
Our daughter Annie did a "reverse sprint triathlon" on Sunday. The "reverse" part is because it's done backwards - run, bike, swim instead of swim, bike, run. The "sprint" part means it's short. The water outdoors is frigid, so the swim was done in a pool, and unfortunately, the run and bike were done outside in the cold rain. But, she got through it and did reasonably well.
It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse.
Italian roast coffee in a STORMY & SOUTHERN mug, please. Looks like thunderstorms starting sometime today with chance of severe storms tonight. YeeHaw!
Got up early today to open the gate for a service call sometime today. It's for a recalled part in a dishwasher.
Replaced the 4 tooth assemblies on the Sports Car (excavator) yesterday. There was this one bolt...man could I have used an impact wrench, or at the very least a long cheater bar. Glad that is done.
Been thinking a lot about the trains sitting idle downstairs. Just haven't made it back down there with so many unfinished farm projects (mostly fencing and fence repairs). May have found a new hired hand who actually lives really close by. Hope he works out.
Have a great day!
Cheers! Rob
Todd
Central Illinoyz
In order to keep my position as Master and Supreme Ruler of the House, I don't argue with my wife.
I'm a small town boy. A product of two people from even smaller towns. I don’t talk on topic….. I just talk.
Mornin' everyone!
Zoe, I'll have..... What? No, I think I'll pass on what Ulrich is having this morning! Just a bowl of Organbic Pumpkin Seed Flax Granola and a cup or two fo my Seneca Lake Dark Roast coffee in my my R&GV RR mug please.
A gray, dull, dark, and gloomy day here in the Finger Lakes this morning. However it is warm outside so far. Currently 70°F with a predicted high of 76°F later. Tonight the temperature will dip into the mid 40's which will be the high for Tuesday.
I shall continue to clean up the layout and the house today. Only errands I need to do is to drive to the Pharmacy to refill Blackie's Med and stop at the Vets for more dry food for the boys.
Later!
Hi Guys.
Just about to head out the door to thw wifes grandfathers funeral. Jeff good to see you can get internet access in the hospital. Any word on when you might get out ( dont know if you mentioned that in previous pages,have to gte caught up on the diner here ).
Talk to you fellas later on
High today supposed to be 70-71. Rain chance is 70%. Breakfast this morning was actually good. I should be getting out of here this afternoon. One of my meds is really pulling me down and wiping out my energy. I think it's the Allegra. This morning I could hardly lift 60 pounds. Normally I can set the weight machine on maximum and lift both weight stacks (170 x 2 = 340 Lbs) one handed with no problem.
Morning guys. Just a bacon sandwhich and hashbrowns. Anyway, still no response from the food store about whether they wanted me to be hired or not. I am giving it until the end of the week, and then giving up on it. I picked up an odd job tomorrow for some money(Just a one day thing), but at least it is something.
(My Model Railroad, My Rules)
These are the opinions of an under 35 , from the east end of, and modeling, the same section of the Wheeling and Lake Erie railway. As well as a freelanced road (Austinville and Dynamite City railroad).
Good Morning,
Spring is over here and winter is back. We had a little snow on the weekend but it was 14F when I got up with a windchill of -1F and we won't see above freezing until Friday. There is no doubt that the snow won't be all gone until early May.
Tom, BC Rail is a regional carrier in the province of British Columbia. It runs from Vancouver to Prince George which is north central BC. It was owned by the BC government until a few years ago when it was sold to CN. As soon as CN took over they sold the ex-CP Hudson that was used on daily excursions in the summer. I had planned on taking a ride on the RDC's they ran as it is a mostly mountain railroad with spectacular scenery but the RDC's ended with CN, no surprise.
Ray, I'm just curious as to why you are switching to NCE from Digitrax. I'm not trying to start any sort of war so if you'd rather you could send me a PM. I know how touchy some people are about their DCC system. I have both MRC and Bachmann(ESU) and think they are both fine, just different.
Well time to give the fish their weekly water change. These are the 2 goldfish that will go back to the pond if it ever thaws out.
CN Charlie
CNCharlieRay, I'm just curious as to why you are switching to NCE from Digitrax. I'm not trying to start any sort of war so if you'd rather you could send me a PM. I know how touchy some people are about their DCC system.
Hi CN Charlie. Very simple actually. Both systems are good systems! I am switching over to NCE because: 1.) I have 3 out of 4 of my throttles giving me major problems and a few other hickups with the system. They are old and have been dropped a few times, so I am not complaining. The Digitrax system has given me good service for many years. 2.) The owner of NCE is a member of my NMRA Division and has been very good to us over the years. 3. and most important, almost everyone who uses DCC around here uses NCE. So, if I want to go to an operating session, I can bring my own throttle and I am good to go. If anything goes wrong, I can just drive to Rochester and it will get fixed while I wait (or so I have been told). I also like the way the throttles handle from the many times I have used NCE at operating sessions. When I start doing operating sessions on the SLOW, others will have throttles they can bring, so I don't have to own 4 or 5 throttles of my own. I will be getting a radio ProCab and one other radio throttle.
Garry & CN Charlie - Thanks for the information. I didn't get a chance to look up anything on the internet last night. And we didn't get back home today from shopping & running errands until about 1:00. After reading your replies, I looked up a CN loco roster, and there #4306 was. So she still belongs to CN. When she went past, I thought she probably was from a leaseing company, but I didn't see any reporting marks. I have no idea how she runs, but appearance wise, she is kind of sad looking. Recently CN sent a engine down to the Bessemer & Lake Erie (which CN owns) for a couple of weeks, and that one was sad looking as well. It appears they don't spend much on repaints. Thanks again...
Tom
Pittsburgh, PA
Good Afternoon,
Garry, I forgot to say that if you want to change the direction of travel, you need to adjust CV29. I have done that a few times when I had the decoder in backwards which will cause that problem. Often it is easier to just change CV29. For the decoders I have changed it was a value of 0 or 1 depending on the direction desired but likely you should check the specs for Soundtraxx.
Ray, thanks for the info. If I were to put in another DCC system I would seriously consider NCE.
Well time for coffee and I think I'll finish the last chapter of Steam to the Niagara Frontier. I was pleased to see a photo of CN Northern #2332 in the book which is the number of the model I have of that loco. Now I just need to find the other 2 books in the series and I'll have all 9 of them.
V8Vega MisterBeasley It's NO COAT DAY! Yes, this morning I went to work without a coat, as it was 63 degrees. It won't last, but it's nice for one day, at least. At 63 we wear a coat for sure.
MisterBeasley It's NO COAT DAY! Yes, this morning I went to work without a coat, as it was 63 degrees. It won't last, but it's nice for one day, at least.
At 63 we wear a coat for sure.
After enduring winter's temps in the negative Fahrenheit digits, 63F is definitely a strip-down day! No coat, Tshirt and SHorts kinda make sense then! Even sandals may be worn! so does finally opening the windows for fresh air and turning off the Heating for a while.
Our blood runs thick, yours runs thin, hence you "freeze" at such a lofty temp as 63!
I'll take 63 today, as we are back into the 30s and 20s tomorrow with snow again, for awhile again!
Well, I spent the day "spring cleaning". Meaning wiht all the windows opened, I tore apart our BR and cleaned under/behind everything.
and I went through my clothes and came up with 4 tall kitchen wastebasket sized bags of clothes I don't wear, won't wear, can't wear to go to goodwill. Then I attacked MOHs stuff and came up with 4 more bags. How do I know MOH can't wont' wear them? they were 1} burried and never saw daylight last year, 2} by size no longer fitting and so buried, 3} stuff MOH complained about. SO I could get rid of them. MOH will be happy to get to the stuff WILL wear.
Then I re-organized the "good clothes" for both of us so clothes are not piled on the floor. MOstly arrangingg to get at boht summer and winter equally wiht ease so there is no "changing seasonal clothing around"! We can get at the summer stuff during the warm months and get at the winter stuff for cold months wihtout moving anyhting, what a NOVEL Idea!
Boy it is warm and the front is on its way to move through with some windy goings-on now. The wind is really whipping up!
Time to get the mail before it rains and head to the shower, got all sweaty doing all that work!.
Jeffrey: Bet you'll be glad to be home! Hope your foot has healed enough for that!
Back home and online. We have some kind of bad weather here. Rain and 55°. Low tonight will be 38° and a 30% chance of rain.Man! Am I glad to be out of that rehab hospital!. They didn't have any kind of internet service the patients could use. I had to piggy-back on a Wi-Fi carrier next door. Slow but it worked.Oh yes, meant to tell you before. The TV remote I hacked out of pure boredom miraculously fixed itself last night. A tech was there this morning looking at it and declared it to be problem free. He still replaced it with a new one though.Last night I set the alarm function on the tablet to wake me up at 5am this morning. The alarm tone was set on something labeled as class dismissed. Maybe I should have listened to it before setting it. At 5am this morning I had to peel myself off the ceiling while the nurses and half the hall were treated to a very loud digital recording of the chimes of Westminster (Big Ben). I couldn't turn it off fast enough! By the time I did half the nurses were coming through my door! For the rest of the day many of the other patients were humming the Westminster Chimes when I entered a room.
HOT DANG !! Welcome home Jeff.
Flip
Jeff ... Glad you are home. Kepp us informed how you are doing.
Flip ... Good to see you. Are you improving?
CN Charlie. ... I added 1 to value in CV29 as Soundtraxx said to do. Evidently, part of the motor driver in the decoder is bad. This decoder has been frustrating to me. I bought the most expensive decoder to put in my best steam engine to be my "show off" locomotive when I have company. Well, the engine looks good on the shelf awaiting decoder repairs. It raorly runs.
Still feel like crap today. I made it through an 8.5 hour day at work, but I don't know if I could make it through my class tonight...
Jeff, Good to hear you're back home.
Garry, I've had the same luck with digitrax decoders... In the past 2 weeks I have had 3 fail... The first was a 4-function DH123 that stopped working in 1 direction, the other was a 2-function DH123 that started causing shorts all the time, the 3rd is a DH163 that makes any motor sound like the bearings are going bad and is slow (tried in several locos, they are ran fine in DC but with that DH163 not so much)
Glad to see your home Jeff
The wifes grandfathers funeral today was set under some pretty bad weather, torrential downpours and winds gusting to 85kph so umbrellas didnt work. After that we went back to the funeral home for a get together to remeber him. He was a very nice fellow and will be missed.
Garry, you have my sympathy as there is nothing more frustrating than a decoder that doesn't work.
I have QSI, Tsunami, Digitrax and Loksound sound decoders in HO steam. I like the Loksound Select the best for both motor control and sound. I have a Select Micro in a PK2 0-8-0 and it works really well. It was pre-loaded with several 4 axle steam options. The bell actually sounds metallic and all other sounds are the best of the decoders I have. It was only about $80 from M.B. Klein. The motor control is really fantastic. That loco literally crawls.
Well time for something I guess so I'll go do whatever.
Chamomile tea, please.
***Jeffrey, that BIG BEN story was a riot. Thanks for the chuckles. Too funny! And glad you are back home, that is excellent.
Anyone here have one of the newer Rivarossi Heislers with DCC & sound? How does it run and sound?
Good Night all.
Janie, just a decaf please...
Jeffrey, glad you made it home! I was afraid you would have another month or so stay at your father's house before you could get back to your own place. Now behave yourself! I loved the "Big Ben" story! Kinda like my Alarm Clock for the deaf I have. Mine sounds like a Fog Horn Going off. What usually wakes me up is the cats exiting the bed and room when it goes off. I barely hear it...
Nice day here in the Finger Lakes today. The temperature got up to 78°F late this afternoon. Had a thunderstorm around 5PM with lots of flashes going on and high winds for a few minutes. I heard one before the worst of it came through and got the computer shut down.... Tonight the temp will continue to drop and tomorrow the high will be 46° and the low will be 20°F and sn*w.... I have some firewood left so I will have a nice warm stove to keep me warm...
Spent most of the day cleaning the train room and getting some trains running. Tomorrow I need to be church during the morning (working on the sound system) and will continue cleaning house during the afternoon. Wednesday the guy will be here to change over to NCE for me. This is a friend of mine from the Museum (we work crew together a lot) who is also a professional modeler and works for NCE...
I will catch up to you folks sometime tomorrow!
In preparation to being discharged from the hospital today it was decided to fit outfit me with a throwaway wound vac. This is a device that sucks moisture out of a wound so it can heal properly. When it comes time to change it you simply take it off and throw it away. It looked nice, was very portable and didn't work at all. It would power up but the motor and pump did absolutely nothing. And it was the ONLY ONE in the ENTIRE hospital. So went poof to the plans to have it in operation for a week until Home Health could replace it with their own wound vac. So it was decided to apply a normal 'wet to dry' dressing that'll have to be changed every day or so until Home Health can bring out their wound vac. Looks like Murphy struck again!Nothing much going on tonight. I'm watching some Mythbusters episodes that were automatically recorded by the DVR while I was trapped in the world of doctors, nurses and bandages. There's close to a dozen to go through. While I was away somebody (sister) got me a second SD card reader/Apple II disk drive emulator. Didn't need a second one but it's a possible light-weight alternative for testing a rebuilt IIe. It weighs a mere 2.4 ounces (includes cable) compared to the twelve pounds of a disk drive and has no moving parts. It's an idea with merit.The Apple Orchard: